Sing the Sorrow

Artwork and liner notes

Sing the Sorrow was issued with three different covers, distinguished by red, silver, or black text, logo, and iconography. The original cover used red artwork. First pressings in the United States and United Kingdom often had the silver cover, which is now rare and out of print; the digital version on iTunes still uses silver artwork. The black cover was sold exclusively at U.S. album release tour shows and through the band's official fan club online store. International editions sometimes feature different label artwork, including pictures of an inverted octopus, a foraminifer, or a dead bird, taken from the book Animals by Jim Harter.

Reception

Sing the Sorrow received critical acclaim. On Metacritic, it scored 81 out of 100 based on 11 reviews, indicating universal acclaim. E! Online described it as a well-crafted mix of hardcore bluster, determined melody, and anthemic grandness with depth and texture rarely heard from the Warped Tour ilk.

Alternative Press gave the album a perfect score, stating that it soars with hit-single melodies while retaining AFI's esoteric darkness. Allmusic also awarded a perfect score, noting that the molting process begun with Black Sails in Sunset was complete and that the album represents a coalescing of the band's sound. Rolling Stone rated it 4 out of 5, saying it has a singleness of dark purpose that builds momentum. The New York Times ranked it the tenth-best album of 2003.

Conversely, Entertainment Weekly gave the album a D, commenting that the songs combine the most pretentious and overworked elements of their influences. The album placed 77th in Guitar World's 2006 list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time. Its lead single, "Girl's Not Grey", won a 2003 VMA for Best MTV2 Music Video and was ranked 63rd by Alternative Press on their list of the best 100 singles from the 2000s. In 2024, Loudwire staff elected Sing the Sorrow the best hard rock album of 2003.

B-sides and outtakes

"Reivers' Music" appears on the DVD of the special limited edition, the "Girl's Not Grey" single, and the 336 EP. Demo versions of "Synthesthesia", "This Celluloid Dream", "The Great Disappointment", "Paper Airplanes (makeshift wings)", "...But Home is Nowhere", "The Leaving Song", and "Now the World" were released as b-sides on the album's singles. "Rabbits are Roadkill on Rt. 37" was included on the MySpace Records: Volume 1 compilation and as a bonus track on UK and Australian editions of Decemberunderground. "Carcinogen Crush", recorded during the Sing the Sorrow sessions but deemed unfit for the album, was later re-recorded for Decemberunderground but remained unreleased until it appeared as a bonus track on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and as a digital single; the original version remains unreleased. "100 Words" was not released until 2009 on the deluxe edition of Crash Love.

Legacy

AFI staged a single full-album performance of Sing the Sorrow at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles on March 11, 2023, marking the record’s 20th anniversary. Jawbreaker, Chelsea Wolfe, and Choir Boy opened the show. The band dedicated “Paper Airplanes (makeshift wings)” to Jawbreaker and “The Leaving Song” to producer Jerry Finn, who passed away in 2008. A vinyl reissue of the out-of-print album was also released for the anniversary. Wrestler CM Punk used “Miseria Cantare – The Beginning” as his entrance theme in Ring of Honor from 2002 to 2005, then again at All Elite Wrestling’s Revolution 2022 and during a career montage before his entrance at WWE’s WrestleMania 42 in 2026.